A medication error is defined as any preventable event that may cause or lead to inappropriate medication use or harm to a patient. Since 2000, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has received more than 95,000 reports of medication errors. FDA reviews reports that come to MedWatch, the agency's adverse event reporting program. Actual numbers are expected to be higher, as many incidents go unreported. According to some studies, 400,000 preventable drug-related errors occur in hospitals each year; 800,000 occur in long-term care settings; and 530,000 occur in outpatient Medicare clinics
Further, for many patients, the medications need to be tightly controlled. For example, if the medications include restricted or controlled medicines.
Moreover, there are many incidents of suicide by prescription drug overdose, medication theft, accidental misuse of medications, and the un-authorized use of someone else's medication. Of particular concern are increasing incidents of theft and diversion by hospital staff and pharmacies.
Therefore, automatic medication dispensers are used to dispense medicines. However, the available dispensers only partially solve the problems. The available dispensers are not fully secure and tamper proof; therefore, they are susceptible to forceful tampering with standard hand tools and light power tools. Further, some available dispensers are not able to accurately track, monitor and remind the patients to medicate properly.
Therefore, there is a need for improved medication dispensers.